It’s tough moving into a shared house after University halls: you have to work out who you’ll live with; whether it’ll be closer to campus or the pub; and which unlucky person gets the box room. Unfortunately, the challenges don’t end there. Sooner or later the time comes to pack up the pint glasses and relocate, as student houses are never permanent. It’s at this point that getting your deposit back becomes important.
From my personal experience, there are two types of landlords: fair and dodgy. Although tenancy deposit schemes exist to protect your money and handle disputes that may arise over deposit returns, if you break your contract landlords are perfectly within their rights to deduct an appropriate sum of money. However, you can take easy steps to ensure you get the bulk of it back from the day you move in…
When You Move In:
• Check for any maintenance issues, such as broken furniture, missing keys or malfunctioning electrical items, and report them to the landlord immediately.
• Take photographs of each room from every angle, as a reference for how the house looked when you arrived.
• If the house is not cleaned to a decent standard, inform the landlord (photos come in handy here!) and ask politely whether he has checked his property.
• Ensure each tenant keeps a copy of the contract in an accessible place.
• Ask for your Tenancy Deposit registration certificate.
During Tenancy:
• Ensure you are aware of what maintenance work you are required to do, such as mowing the lawn.
• If a problem occurs, tell your landlord as soon as possible. Refer to the contract; the chances are he’s responsible for sorting it, particularly something like a broken shower.
• Try to keep communal areas clean, if not tidy! A quick hoovering session, even once or twice a month, will make the final job much less painful.
When You Move Out:
• Stock up on anti-bacterial wipes; they’re invaluable in the big clean up.
• Remove posters from walls carefully to avoid marks or holes.
• Take photos again to prove what a lovely condition you’ve left the house in.
• Determine when the landlord is going to pay the deposit back and how: will it be a cheque, a bank transfer, or will you pick it up? Knowing this saves undue waiting and worrying.
• If the landlord makes deductions, ask for a full breakdown of what the money is for. A fair landlord will usually list the problem itself and how the repair cost has been divided amongst the number of tenants.
• If a landlord takes £50 of each tenant’s deposit with no justification or won’t pay you at all, take action. Go to your letting agency or the University’s housing office and if all else fails, check out a tenancy deposit scheme such as http://www.thedisputeservice.co.uk/
Written by Jemma Saunders
Read Jemma’s blog or follow her on Twitter @JemSaunders1